After looking at some of the samples here, you may wonder -- hey, can't I do that myself? Oh, probably. But would you want to? There's a lot to learn about the software, and that's just the technical side. Creating a captivating video montage or slide show that you can enjoy for years to come involves more than pointing and clicking. Here are some things I consider when building slide shows:
1. Know Your Audience
It sounds obvious, and it should be, but some people forget that someone special will be watching it in the end. For instance, if you’re showing your slide show at your wedding reception, perhaps you’ll want to include some pictures of the guests, parents, and people in the wedding party -- not just pictures of you and your fiancé.
2. Shorter is Sometimes Better
This goes hand in hand with Tip #1. After you’ve determined who your intended audience is, you can start to get an idea as to how many pictures you’ll want to include in your slide show. Video montages that are between 8 – 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding receptions. This usually works out to about 3 songs and 75-100 pictures. Shorter is fine, but longer is pushing it. While you can certainly display more photos during your slide show, you want to be careful not to subject your guests to an extremely long slide show. You really can have too much of a good thing, especially when people are eager to get on the dance floor and cut loose.
3. Choose Quality Photographs
Garbage in, garbage out. While recent advances in digital photo restoration have allowed torn and poorly developed photographs to be brought back to life, there is only so much that the software can do. Pictures that look great printed (correct lighting, framing, developed properly) will also look great when scanned. Pictures that are extremely dark or grainy, while perhaps improved somewhat, will still not appear the best. If you're sorting through your photos and scanning some old ones, pick the highest-resolution you can muster. You won't need to go crazy with 600 DPI or even 300 in most cases. Good photos make good slideshows.
4. Choose a Variety of Photographs
I'd rather have too many pictures to work with than too few. I may end up tossing some and keeping only the best of the best. Considering using ten pictures of your childhood pet? Cut it down to the best three and go looking for some more variety.
5. Landscape pictures show better than Portrait pictures
Standard TV displays in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is fairly close to what a landscape photograph is -- that's with the long side of the picture at the top and bottom. HD is even skinner at 16:9. Now, when you turn the photo 90 degrees for a portrait, it gives less room for panning and zooming and such. It's hard to fit it in without having most of the screen showing black bars. Of course, portrait photos can and SHOULD be used. But if you have two of the same basic shot, the landscape one will usually work better.
6. Give some thought to music
I've spent most of my career in radio, so I believe the sound is just as important as the picture. (Honestly, more important sometimes.) Choose music that has meaning to you, music whose lyrics go well with the pictures. Also pay attention to how long the music you’re choosing is. If you’re only showing 30 pictures, you might not want to choose a 8 minute song. I should have tips elsewhere on the site about what formats of music work best from a technical point of view. And if the song doesn't work perfectly, it can be edited. That's actually my favourite part, but don't tell anyone!
7. Add short video clips
Little snippets of video do wonders to spice up slideshows. I can work with almost any format of digital video, and when those clips come up, they're a great surprise that keeps the audience on its toes.
8. Add motion to your slide shows
One article suggests: "Slide shows developed on PowerPoint and other consumer level software will typically be just static photos that go from one picture to the next. Consider having your slide shows created with the “Ken Burns” effects that Pan and Zoom on each photograph. This can help bring your pictures to life." Yourslideshow.ca will do this by default. I wouldn't have it any other way. Yuck.
9. Add transitions to your slide shows
That article also says: "Transitions such as fade in/fade out, dissolve, and image peel are also an effective way to move from one photograph to the next." True, but don't overdo it. Not to get all film-nerd on you, but the visual language of cinema and video has evolved over the years, and transitions can actually mean something. Some slideshow producers throw the whole kitchen sink of effects into a video, and it makes me queasy. Basic fades and dissolves are like commas and periods in writing. If you're going to get fancy and use a semicolon, make sure you know why. I know my visual grammar, and will use special effects when appropriate.
10. Test! Test! Test!
This cannot be overstated: There's a time and place for things to go wrong, and it's *before* the audience is there. If you’re planning on showing your video montage or slide show at an event like a wedding reception, try to test ALL the equipment in advance. Make sure the projector or television, DVD player or laptop, and sound is all working. Yourslideshow.ca has been through this. We’d be glad to consult with you regarding the best possible setup for your slide show.
Is there anything else to add? I'm sure there is! That's why this web site exists. Bring on your questions, and we can work out a special show for you.
Written by Scott Simpson, yourslideshow.ca, adapted from an article credited to Mike Yared at http://www.dvdphotographs.com/tips.htm
More photo-choosing tips:
- Choose quality photos that will look great in your slideshow. Avoid photos that are extremely dark, grainy, scratched or torn.
- Photos that have been cut in an odd shape for a scrapbook will not work well in a slide show.
- Photos that are horizontally oriented (landscape) look better on screen than photos that are vertically oriented (portrait).
- Choose photos that evoke emotion, reveal personality or show real action in addition to posed shots.
- Choose close-ups that show facial expressions rather than far away shots.
- If two photos are similar, consider eliminating one of them. Try to include a limited numbers of pictures for each time period.
- Choose photos that will be of interest to your audience. Include some photos of the people who will be viewing the presentation. Everyone loves to see themselves on the big screen and they will feel like a part of your special event. Your audience may be interested to see a photo of a loved family member. However, they may not care to see several pictures of your pets.
- Some clients want fun, exciting, dazzling effects that get attention, while others prefer effects that are subtle, graceful, and elegant but never distracting to the main focus of the photographs themselves. Think about what style of photo effects, backgrounds & transitions you prefer.
- Upbeat, fast-paced music requires more photos to look good (plan on 4 seconds of music per photo), and slow-paced peaceful music requires fewer photos (8 seconds of music per photo). You may want to plan for a medium-paced video where each photo stays on the screen for about 6 seconds. Include the appropriate amount of music for your slide show. If the amount of music is too long for the number of pictures we will either have to increase the duration of the photos or fade the song out early. We will do our best to find a good point in the song to fade out.
